Your HR and Payroll compliance and policy solution! Comply with federal, state, and international laws, find answers to your most challenging questions, get timely updates with email alerts, and more with our suite of products.

BEYOND THE HILL BLOG

Aug 2, 2016 / by

SO YOU THINK YOUR LOCAL GARAGE OVERCHARGES YOU…

The Pentagon has long had
problems getting its accounting straight. Enough problems, in fact, that
auditing the Pentagon’s books was among the rare policy proposals in common
between this year’s Republican and Democratic party platforms.

But when your agency’s main
mission is to, basically, blow things up and facilitate the blowing up of
things by your allies, financial reporting can be challenge.

Case in point: a recent audit
report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
It found a five-year contract with contractor Afghanistan Integrated Support
Services JV (AISS) to maintain the Afghan National Army’s 26,000-vehicle fleet,
estimated to cost $182 million in 2010, will have ballooned to a projected $423
million by the time it and its extensions end in 2017. A new contract, meant to
give the Afghan National Army (ANA) the “organic” capacity to take care of its
own fleet, is expected to cost about $1 billion over five years.

“The failure of AISS to meet
its most basic contract requirements and program objectives, and DOD’s inaction
to correct contractor deficiencies and seek repayment of funds” has been a
major waste of taxpayer funds, the SIGAR said in a report released July 28. “However,
not providing this needed assistance would adversely impact the ability of the
Afghan military to meet its counterinsurgency objectives and run counter to
U.S. policy objectives.”

The report said there were a
number of problems with the contract and its oversight, including an
unwillingness by contracting oversight officers to stop payment when the
contractor didn’t meet goals, a lack of security that made on-site checks of
maintenance sites difficult, problems with literacy that complicated training
Afghan mechanics and differences in the way the vehicle readiness was
calculated.

“To illustrate, DOD’s December
2014 Afghan National Security Forces–Logistics Information Paper reported that
the operational readiness rate for the ANA fleet of High Mobility Multipurpose
Wheeled Vehicles had never been over 90 percent, and that it then stood at 57
percent; at the same time, AISS’s quarterly report stated that the operational
readiness rate for all vehicles was over 95 percent,” the report said.

“While AISS used advisor mentor
teams embedded in Afghan battalions to conduct on-the-job training, low
literacy rates and cultural differences also hindered their ANA maintenance
training efforts,” it continues. “CSTC-A Training Program Support Office
officials were aware of these and other program challenges, including poor
attendance at training, low retention rates of trained ANA personnel, and a
limited pool of ANA managers who possessed the skills necessary to manage the
supply chain and maintenance shops.”

In its response, the Defense
Department said it concurred with the report’s recommendations and said it
would use the lessons learned from it in overseeing current and future
contracts. In a July 25 letter to the SIGAR, Jedidiah Royal, acting deputy
assistant secretary of defense, said measures of progress have been changed to
include a goal of getting 80 percent of work orders completed in a 15-day
period.

All Bloomberg BNA treatises are available on standing order, which ensures you will always receive the most current edition of the book or supplement of the title you have ordered from Bloomberg BNA’s book division. As soon as a new supplement or edition is published (usually annually) for a title you’ve previously purchased and requested to be placed on standing order, we’ll ship it to you to review for 30 days without any obligation. During this period, you can either (a) honor the invoice and receive a 5% discount (in addition to any other discounts you may qualify for) off the then-current price of the update, plus shipping and handling or (b) return the book(s), in which case, your invoice will be cancelled upon receipt of the book(s). Call us for a prepaid UPS label for your return. It’s as simple and easy as that. Most importantly, standing orders mean you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you’re relying on. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.960.1220 or by sending an email to books@bna.com.

Put me on standing order at a 5% discount off list price of all future updates, in addition to any other discounts I may quality for. (Returnable within 30 days.)

Notify me when updates are available (No standing order will be created).

This Bloomberg BNA report is available on standing order, which ensures you will all receive the latest edition. This report is updated annually and we will send you the latest edition once it has been published. By signing up for standing order you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you need. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.372.1033, option 5, or by sending us an email to research@bna.com.

Put me on standing order

Notify me when new releases are available (no standing order will be created)